Gigafauna

The Gigafauna subjugation force was formed, and we headed to the Karika Grassland.

Naturally, the one commanding at the front was Count Tristan.

His domain army and the armies of his allied vassals—nearly two hundred soldiers in total—had gathered.

The vice-commander was me, Woody Conrad.

Standing at my sides were Aira and Nadja.

Behind us followed the members of Sandstorm.

Of course, bringing everyone would cause security issues, so we brought about half of them.

The Wood Golems were stored in the Harvest Bag since they could fit inside, but the Tree Guardian Beasts could not be put into it.

So our group ended up being a strangely fancy procession of few humans and many times more animals.

“To bring such adorable pets… Lord Woody seemed quite relaxed, it seemed.”

Some people tried to pick a fight with us like that, but after an angered Fire Cat burned one of them black once, no one said anything more.

Instead, they became afraid, wondering how many powerful magical beasts we possessed.

They were not magical beasts but Tree Guardian Beasts… but as long as they did not underestimate us, I had no intention of correcting the misunderstanding.

This time, as reinforcements, Miria-san, Lulu-san, and the other dark elves came, along with the elves led by Fana-san, accompanied by Utena-san and Akabane-san.

However, the number of elves was small.

Because many still held prejudice toward the dark elves, Fana-san carefully selected those she called upon.

Many elves, including Utena-san, seemed to have complicated feelings toward the dark elves, but since the rarely seen Fana-san personally took command this time, their morale was extremely high.

After about two weeks of traveling—sometimes quarreling and settling disputes between different races along the way— we finally arrived at the destination, the point where the leyline was being drained.

And what we saw there was— an unbelievably massive, bipedal giant.

“That was… the Gigafauna…”

“It was still this far away and that big… it might be larger than the World Tree of Tree Village.”

Its body color was pale green.

Its size… I could only say it was enormous.

It was still far enough that it had not noticed us yet, but even from here it looked huge.

If we approached, just how big would it be…? At worst, it might be the size of the elf village’s World Tree.

“Count, then according to plan.”

“Mm, leave it to me.”

The opening strike would be delivered by Nadja, who had the highest attack power in our camp.

I began taking the Wood Golems out of the Harvest Bag.

The number of Wood Golems prepared for this moment exceeded one thousand.

I could feel the observing officers behind us gasp at the overwhelming number.

“With this many lined up, it was a magnificent sight… We must avoid making an enemy of Woody-kun at all costs.”

“If I married Woody, that would not happen.”

“I see. That made sense.”

Despite the gigantic figure towering before him, the count showed no sign of tension.

When he stepped down from the carriage, Nadja stood beside him.

“—Here I come, big guy!”

As Nadja dashed forward, the Gigafauna noticed her approach.

But once she got that close, it no longer mattered.

She unleashed a strike at the Gigafauna’s right leg.

And the battle with the Gigafauna began—.